{"id":1997,"date":"2026-09-15T06:18:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T06:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entri.app\/explore\/?post_type=curriculum&p=1997"},"modified":"2026-09-15T06:18:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T06:18:39","slug":"cognitive-theories","status":"publish","type":"curriculum","link":"https:\/\/entri.app\/explore\/montessori\/cognitive-theories\/","title":{"rendered":"Cognitive Theories"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Distinguishes Cognitive Theories<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The cognitive approach deals mainly with the psychological aspects of human behaviour, putting the nature of complex mental processes back on the agenda. Where behaviourists focus purely on observable stimulus-response connections, cognitive theorists take into account internal processes like perception, concept formation, problem-solving, attention, and memory.<\/p>\n

The Insight Learning Theory of Gestalt’s School<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The learning theory known as ‘Learning by Insight’ is the contribution of Gestalt Psychologists \u2014 Wertheimer, Kohler, Koffka, and Lewin, all originally German, who eventually settled in America and are historically the leaders of Gestalt Psychology. Insight means the sudden grasping of the solution to a problematic situation \u2014 a flash of understanding that comes all at once, the sudden awareness or perception of the essential relationships in a total situation.<\/p>\n

Basic Concepts of Insight Learning<\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Learning is a purposive, exploratory, and creative enterprise, in which the total situation is taken into account by the learner.<\/li>\n
  • A learning situation is a problem situation, and the learner deduces a solution by insight when they perceive the situation as a whole.<\/li>\n
  • The learner perceives the situation as a whole, evaluates the relationship between its parts, and makes an intelligent decision.<\/li>\n
  • The learner always responds to the proper relationship rather than to specific stimuli.<\/li>\n
  • Learning occurs spontaneously and suddenly through the development of insight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Insight development is facilitated by previous experience with similar problems and is closely related to a learner’s intellectual level \u2014 the higher the intellect, the quicker insight tends to occur. Insight also involves a bit of trial-and-error behaviour, and involves understanding and reasoning about the problem.<\/p>\n

    Steps in Insight Learning<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Step<\/strong><\/td>\nWhat Happens<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
    1. Identifying the problem<\/td>\nThe motivated learner recognises an obstacle blocking their path to the goal.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2. Understanding the problem<\/td>\nThe learner surveys and critically analyses the problematic situation, perceiving the relation between goal and obstacle.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    3. Incubation of ideas<\/td>\nA period of hesitation, pause, and concentrated attention to the problem.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    4. Trial of mode of response<\/td>\nInitial efforts using simple trial and error \u2014 failed responses lead to trying others in sequence.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    5. Sustained attention<\/td>\nThe learner maintains recurrent attention to the goal and motivation.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    6. Insight development<\/td>\nA critical ‘aha’ moment \u2014 sudden perception of the relationship in the total situation, and the learner performs the required act directly.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    7. Steady repetition of adaptive behaviour<\/td>\nAfter finding an insightful solution, the learner applies it again in similar future situations.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    8. Comprehension of ability<\/td>\nThe learner reaches the ability to focus on the relevant parts of a situation, overlooking the irrelevant.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Lewin’s Field Theory<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    According to Lewin, learning is a change in cognitive structure \u2014 a change in the structure of the individual’s ‘life-space.’ A change in life-space structure occurs when a person moves from one region of life-space to another, and that movement is decided by the valence (attracting or repelling force) of the goal: a positive valence attracts the person toward a region, a negative valence repels them from it. A person in life-space is always under the influence of psychological forces called vectors \u2014 it’s the vector force that controls movement toward a goal.<\/p>\n

    Because a person is influenced by several valences at once, conflicts arise. There are three types:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Conflict Type<\/strong><\/td>\nWhat It Involves<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
    Approach-Approach Conflict<\/td>\nCaught between two goals, both with positive valences.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Approach-Avoidance Conflict<\/td>\nCaught between one positive goal and one negative goal.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict<\/td>\nCaught between two goals, both with negative valences.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Field theory ultimately treats learning as a change in the cognitive structure of life-space, resulting from a person’s movement (locomotion) from one region to another \u2014 changes caused by the vector forces operating in the psychological field: needs, aspirations, valences, and conflicts.<\/p>\n

    Bandura’s Social Cognitive Learning<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Social cognitive learning, proposed by Albert Bandura, a Canadian psychologist, emphasises that learning occurs observationally, through modelling. Modelling is a process in which a child learns by keenly observing the behaviour, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others \u2014 most commonly people nearest to them, like parents, family members, teachers, and older members of society. From observing others, the child forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and this coded information later guides imitated action. Because learning occurs through observation and imitation, this is also called observational learning.<\/p>\n

    What Bandura first called social learning theory, he later renamed social cognitive theory: one learns through observation, incorporating and imitating the behaviours of models within one’s social environment. The modelling process includes four steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Step<\/strong><\/td>\nWhat Happens<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
    1. Attention<\/td>\nThe learner attends to features of the modelled behaviour, influenced by both the model’s characteristics (distinctiveness, complexity, functional value) and the observer’s own characteristics (sensory capacity, arousal, past reinforcement).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2. Retention<\/td>\nThe learner registers the observed behaviour in memory, as mental images or verbal descriptions \u2014 via symbolic coding, cognitive organisation, and symbolic\/motor rehearsal.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    3. Reproduction<\/td>\nSymbolic representations are converted into actual actions, as the learner organises their own responses to match the modelled pattern; this ability improves with practice.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    4. Reinforcement<\/td>\nImitating a behaviour requires a motivating factor \u2014 an external or internal incentive that acts as a reinforcer; negative reinforcers discourage continuing the modelled activity.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What Distinguishes Cognitive Theories The cognitive approach deals mainly with the psychological aspects of human behaviour, putting the nature of complex mental processes back on the agenda. Where behaviourists focus purely on observable stimulus-response connections, cognitive theorists take into account internal processes like perception, concept formation, problem-solving, attention, and memory. The Insight Learning Theory of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"curriculum-category":[113,114,125],"custom_linking_tags":[],"class_list":["post-1997","curriculum","type-curriculum","status-publish","hentry","curriculum-category-montessori","curriculum-category-montessori-tutorials","curriculum-category-learning"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCognitive Theories - Entri Free Materials<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/entri.app\/explore\/montessori\/cognitive-theories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cognitive Theories - Entri Free Materials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What Distinguishes Cognitive Theories The cognitive approach deals mainly with the psychological aspects of human behaviour, putting the nature of complex mental processes back on the agenda. 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